Determination of magnesium in zirconium based on ion exchange separation and titration with versene PublicDeposited

Descriptions

The Kroll Process for the production of zirconium utilizes
the reduction of zirconium tetrachloride with metallic magnesium.
Control of the magnesium content of the final zirconium metal is
essential, as residual magnesium adversely influences the properties
of zirconium.
In this thesis a volumetric method has been presented for the
determination of magnesium. An initial separation of the bulk of
zirconium from magnesium was carried out by a rapid, batch ion
exchange in hydrofluoric-hydrochloric acid solution. In this step
94% of the zirconium can be removed. The remainder was precipitated
with ammonia in the presence of ammonium chloride. Magnesium
is determined in the filtrate by the complexometric titration with
disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate.
This method was applied to magnesium-zirconium mixtures containing from 1% to 0.1% magnesium. The lower level of 0.1% was
established because the volume of versenate used in titration
becomes too small for accurate determinations at concentrations
lower than this.